How Hotjar Built A 100% Distributed Company

How Hotjar Built A 100% Distributed Company4KIm a digital nomad, I work remotely 100% of the time. Nearly everyone I know would love this kind of life. But as much as it sounds exciting and easy, it comes with major challenges. From my own experience, bad internet connection which makes you repeat yourself endlessly is just the beginning.I wanted to know how 100% remote working companies handle these challenges. After doing some research, Hotjar kept coming up as an example. A few emails later, I was very excited that Ken, their VP of Operations, agreed to have a chat about how Hotjar mastered remote work.Somebody Needed to Make MoneyKens first week at Hotjar on a company retreat in Malta.At the interview, Ken was working from a standing desk at a Greenpoint Coworking in Cape Town, South Africa. (And the internet connection was exceptional) When asked how he started at Hotjar, he explained that 3 years ago he and his wife decided to change their lives and become nomadic. At that time , Ken was in a corporate world which he loved, but despite that, he took a year off and travelled from the US to Central America with the whole family. After a year they realized they loved it, but somebody needed to make money.Then, he saw an ad for a gig at Hotjar. It was a phenomenal match of his background, culture, and passions. When I asked about his first day, he started laughing and explained it was actually a retreat in Malta. He had just accepted the job a week prior while living in Belize. They flew him to Malta to meet his colleagues who hed never even seen in person.Ever since, Kens been leading the operations gruppe, thinking of ways to improve Hotjars company culture, internal processes, HR and, as he giggled, anything that David, our CEO, doesnt want to do.We then moved on to things that make Hotjar a successful remote company.Your work speaks for itself.Since its launch in 2014, the company has grown to 10 million Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) in 2017. Their team has grown from the five co-founders to over 40. Asked what makes Hotjar a successful remote company, he said One of the things that is so key and pivotal to make a remote company work is transparency.Hotjars team members know far more about their company than a typical employee, including 100% of the financials and company performance data. Put simply, Theres no hiding. That transparency also extends to all online communication. Whether its Hipchat, email, or Basecamp. Personalities and the way people work show through these tools. As a remote company, we understand that sitting behind a desk in an office together doesnt mean you do a better job. Your work speaks for itself. This transparency builds extraordinary trust and collaboration.In his study, hochschulprofessor Noam Wasserman looked at 6,500 failed businesses, 65% of which failed as a result of co-founder conflict or a bad company culture. You could count Hotjar as true believers. Theyve built their success on strong, well-d efined company values.Related articlesThe key to Leanplums epic growth? Company cultureWhat Ive learned as a junior entrepreneur in Bulgaria in three yearsPros and Cons of working in a startupHow do you work? How do you communicate?Being a remote company, everything needs to be well established and thought through for Hotjar, especially the hiring process. As VP of Operations, Ken makes sure everything is well organized and grounded in their values. At different stages of the hiring process, they test those values in each candidate. For example, one of their values is giving and taking feedback. So, they embed tasks and evaluations into their hiring process to learn how each candidate responds to and gives feedback.Giving tasks as a parte of hiring isnt that unique (we do it too), so I wanted to know how Hotjar approaches this in their own way. Ken put it simply We pay individuals to complete a task that simulates their role but also provides value to us. And we can turn around and implement even if they arent the right person.Most interesting for me was the team involvement aspect of Hotjars hiring. Many of their hires have never worked remotely, so they often ask How do you work and communicate? Dont you get bored when youre working from home, not an office? Thats why Hotjar simulates remote working for them before they get hired. It helps candidates understand whether or not remote feels right for them. It also gives us the opposite a chance to see how they work in such environment. Are they quick to pick up the tools that we use, the jargon? It also exposes them to our team members and likewise, our team members get to interact with people who are checking us out. An onhauptplatineing process that rocksHotjars Trello board for an onboarding process.If Hotjar hires you, the onboarding process starts before your first day. The first thing that occurs is the team member from our operations team reaches out and introduces themselves. Together, they define wha t kind of office set-up or computer the individual needs. Hotjar provides an office allowance to purchase the tools that are necessary for the team members without any restrictions. Then all their accounts are set up and everythings shipped to the new team member.In plus-rechnen to their new computer, we also send a welcome packet. It includes stuff such as t-shirts, stickers, Kindle, Fitbit, as well as a couple of books that are critical to some of our values.One of the books is Strengths 2.0, which each new hire reads within the first week, completing a survey to define their top strengths, and putting them into a spreadsheet. This helps their remote team to get to know each other better. Just because you see somebody, it doesnt mean you understand their personality type. This is a way to know more about others than youd traditionally know when you meet them for the first time.On their first day, new hires are welcomed with a self-service Trello board that gives them a series of t asks to get set up. This includes reaching out to certain team members to schedule onboarding calls, joining demo and training meetings, and introducing themselves by sharing 10 fun facts about yourself Ken added.If you want to be a successful remote companyMake everybody 100% remote. This was a surprising statement, something we hadnt considered at Enhancv. We let employees work remotely whenever they like. Also, we have a hauptstadt von irland office now, with two members(the rest of us are in Sofia). (Read Vessys story on how she mastered remote working). Ken continued, if half of your company works in an office and sees each other every day, and the other half doesnt, this other half will clearly miss the interactions that the others are having physically every single day. Because of that, it kind of creates 2 different company cultures, that are physical and those that are virtual.Hotjar has an official office in Malta where its founders are from, but they only use it for retre ats and as a mailing address. Their diverse team lives around the Americas, Europe, and Asia, enjoying a huge variety of lifestyles.We tell our tauglichkeit hires if you join Hotjar, be preparedto travel 3-4 times a year. As a person who loves travelling, this would be music to my ears Hotjars team travels twice a year to all company meetups, which are usually a week long. They always choose a fun place with fun activities. The last two meetups were in Park City, Utah for a winter meetup and Marbella, Spain for a summer meetup. This brought back memories from our last retreat in Venice. Creating great memories for the team is something both Hotjar and us at Enhancv are passionate about.Hotjar also organizes smaller meetups for their teams. Our DEV team would meet for hackathons, which are 3 days of heads down, cranking on critical stuff or new ideas. The operations team calls it a docuthon, which means we work strictly on documentation.Sometimes you can feel a bit isolatedEven thou gh I love it so much, I do miss the ability to say Hey, lets go grab a beer after work, or lets get our kids together. That doesnt exist unless you happen to live in the saatkorn town, which is pretty rare.Just as it is with our CSO whos alone in Dublin, Ken mentioned that sometimes you can feel a bit isolated. As a VP of operations, he tries to tackle such situations by coming up with different ideas. A new thing that we tried is encouraging team members to write in a chat Hey, in 15 minutes Im gonna have a coffee break. If youd like to join me, come to this google hangout and get your coffee ready. The last time 10 people showed up. Its important to always try new things and scratch the itch, he added.Ultimately, however, its all been worth it for Hotjar. They would be the first ones to tell you that being a 100% distributed company isnt for everyone. It takes incredible dedication. But the results have spoken for themselves. Today, Ken wouldnt work any other way. Tags business, r emote working, Startup

This Working Mom Has a Ton of Trust and Freedom at Her Job Heres How

This Working Mom Has a Ton of Trust and Freedom at Her Job Heres How Working in sale can be intimidating it requires persistence, energy, and sometimes a thick skin. But Carly Shipley, a Key Account Manager at Continental, advises anyone whos considering a career in ausverkauf to go for it. It can sound scary, but its super rewarding in the end, she says.Of course, bedrngnis all schlussverkauf jobs are created equal. Shipley is fortunate to work at a company that wholeheartedly trusts its employees, which has allowed her to flourish throughout her career. In addition to having the freedom to make her own decisions, shes able to schedule her time with flexibility which is especially helpful for her as a mom of a 2-year-old and 4-month-old.No one questions what youre doing if youre performing well, Shipley explains. Its a very self-driven culture.How long have you been in your current role, and what were you doing previously?I joined Continental straight out of college as a field sal es representative and have been with the company for nine years. I majored in Professional Sales and Marketing at the University of Toledo and found out about Continental at career fair. I welches drawn to the company because of the wide range of products and industries it touches. I also knew there would be lots of opportunity and liked the idea that I wouldnt be stuck working on one product for my whole career.My first role was a travel position, which was nice right out of college not having to pay rent I worked with dealers across the U.S., (I had several months of training, and then got my own territory to manage.)What does your typical work day look like?Now, that I am a key account manager, my typical day involves traveling to see customers or conducting customer meetings over Skype. Working with customers is the best part I dont do well sitting still and could never work a standard 8-to-5 job.Whats the best part of working at Continental?The best part is that I have the free dom to make my own decisions and schedule in fact, Freedom to Act is a core value of the company.If I need to go to the doctor or if my daughter is sick, I know I have the flexibility to do so and that no one is judging me for it. Theres a lot of trust here no one questions what youre doing if youre performing well. Its a very self-driven culture.Im also energized by the work itself, and I love seeing how my efforts can positively impact customers. One of the most exciting projects I worked on recently was a project for a customer who was developing a new product. It was a fun project to be a part of from start to finish, and I enjoyed helping them work through their challenges and theyre now the largest account I haveWhats the most unique opportunity youve received as a sales professional at Continental? Traveling abroad my first business trip was just two weeks out of college, and I got to travel to our Corporate Headquarters in Hanover, Germany. It was my first time in Europe. We usually have an annual global sales conference in a different location each year. Its fun to reconnect with colleagues from all over the world. Im from a small town in Ohio, so getting that global experience and working with people from different cultures has been really cool.Whats the No. 1 piece of advice you have for women who travel for work?Before taking on a job that involves travel, know what the expectations are and what you should expect yourself. Utilize the tools you have, such as Skype. Now that I have mora established customer relationships, I ask myself if I absolutely need to travel or if I can Skype. My husband also travels for work, so we have a shared Google travel calendar which helps us balance work and family life.Whats something you think most people dont know about working in sales that you think they should?People think sales is simple, fun and glamorous, but the highs are very high and lows are low. Rejection is always difficult. You may need a thick ski n to handle it. Being a female in sales can be tough, especially in certain industries. Some customers seem to always question first what you know, and you may have to work harder to prove yourself than your male colleagues do. But use your strengths, listen, be organized, and be confident.Whats the one career move youve made that youre most proud of?My jump from field sales to key account manager. It was my first manager role, and I relocated to our tire headquarters in South Carolina for it. I miss living near my family, but I also love living in the Carolinas.I went through leadership development training to prepare me for the new role Continental is good at preparing employees for their next steps and really invests in the development of their employees.Whats your No. 1 piece of advice for women who are looking for jobs in sales right now?Be confident in yourself and the fact that you can do it. A lot of women dont see sales as something they can do, but I think women are natura lly good salespeople because we listen and are organized. Sales isnt what most people envision it is. You dont have to be pushy. You just need to listen to your customers needs and provide them with the right information.--Fairygodboss is proud to partner with Continental. Find a job there today